Exclusive: ‘We have to find the Max Verstappen of cycling. That’s our goal’ - Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe manager plots path to the top
In an exclusive interview Ralph Denk reveals the WorldTour squad's plans and ambitions for 2025 and beyond
Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe team manager Ralph Denk told Cyclingnews that the arrival of the global energy drink sponsor has enabled the team to invest significantly in riders and performance staff for 2025 and beyond, with Red Bull setting a simple but lofty goal – ‘to be the best.’
The team was close to the level of UAE Team Emirates and Visma-Lease a Bike before Red Bull bought a majority stake in the team this spring. Now they want to take them on and beat them in the years to come. Red Bull’s investment and their global importance should, as Red Bull’s slogan says, give them wings.
Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe have reportedly signed a number of talented young riders for 2025. Under UCI rules new signings can only be announced after August 1 but the deals appear to have been done thanks to Red Bull’s extra funding and Denk’s ability to strike early in the transfer market.
Jan Tratnik is widely expected to leave Visma-Lease a Bike to ride with fellow Slovenian and former teammate Primož Roglič. 20-year-old Giulio Pellizzari impressed at the Giro d’Italia and was second to Isaac del Toro in the 2023 Tour de l'Avenir. The Italian is considered a future Grand Tour talent and has the same agent as Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates).
New Zealand's Laurence Pithie had a breakout spring and will leave Groupama-FDJ for Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, with multi-talented Spaniard Oier Lazkano also set to join from Movistar. Finn Fisher-Black will also be a Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe signing according to Daniel Benson’s transfer reports via his substack page. Benson also reports that Visma-Lease a Bike twins Mick van Dijke and Tim van Dijke will make the move from Visma-Lease a Bike to the reinvigorated team.
On top of that Jai Hindley has recently signed a two-year contract extension and Aleksandr Vlasov has agreed a three-year extension to ensure that Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe have multiple Grand Tour leaders and talented Tour de France super domestiques.
Denk tried to sign Remco Evenepoel in the past and, like every major team in the peloton, he would love to work with the Belgian in the future. The rumours and reports that Evenepoel may leave Soudal-Quick Step for a proven Tour de France super team continue to circulate but he opted to stay last year, promising loyalty to Patrick Lefevere and to his teammates, who were angry about the uncertainty and Evenepoel’s role in it.
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Denk, like other teams, perhaps has some financial reserves or extra budget from his sponsors ready if Evenepoel or another Grand Tour winner suddenly becomes available. But he is also working on developing his future Grand Tour contenders in-house.
On Thursday Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe announced that John Wakefield has been appointed as the newly created position of Director of Development at the team. The South African has been a coach for two years but now also be responsible for the team’s ‘Rookie Program’ and an expanded scouting unit.
Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe will create a new 12-rider Under 23 Continental team for 2025 to fill the gap between the Grenke-Auto Eder junior team and the WorldTeam from. The scouting unit will expand the team’s search for young junior talent beyond their Red Bull Junior Brothers programme and the work of talent scout Tim Meeusen.
“The Red Bull Leipzig soccer team in Germany is an example of how we’ll try to work. They don't buy the big players on the market, they develop them. That's our goal too. It can take time and effort before they win big but when they do, it’s much more satisfying.”
Denk avoided promising any big-name announcements on August 1 but is convinced he has strengthened Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe for 2025 and beyond.
“We acted early and made some good decisions. That was an advantage. I think everyone will be impressed by our new rider campaign and the team will be significantly stronger.” Denk said.
“I can’t mention names now, but I think we hired good riders because other teams have since tried to tempt them away with counter offers. That’s an example of how hard the rider market is and how hard it is to find the right talent.”
Last year Denk tried to sign Isaac del Toro but UAE Team Emirates eventually won a bidding war with all the super teams to sign the talented Mexican and 2023 Tour de L’Avenir winner. Thanks to the arrival of Red Bull, Denk is convinced he can now compete with any team in the WorldTour by offering the best performance structure and the best salary, for multi-year contracts.
“In the past, we were good at identifying talent but before Red Bull invested in the team, we perhaps weren’t attractive enough, not ‘cool’ enough or whatever. We also didn’t have the money to sign the biggest riders. We made an offer to del Toro but we were outbid by others,” Denk admitted.
“Money is important but to be a great team but it’s not everything. You also need two vital elements that work together: great rider talent and then best performance environment. We’re working on strengthening both at Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe.
“We’ve great sponsors and we’re only going to get better as a team, both internally with our staff and with our performance support. Big changes are coming and we’re adding extra staff. At the moment Visma-Lease a Bike lead the way on performance, along with UAE Team Emirates, but we’re going to close the gap.
“The best young riders want a longer contract and rightly want to know how we’ll build their careers. They want to know about your performance structure, your philosophy on nutrition and mental coaching. They want to know about the bikes and equipment. Now every small detail is super important to convince the best riders to join your team.”
A global super team
Bora-Hansgrohe has always had a German identity but the team will become more global thanks to Red Bull.
“The important thing is to win and how you win, it’s not about nationality,” Denk explained.
“Look at Red Bull in Formula 1. They’re based in Austria but are a global brand. I think they’re happy to have Max Verstappen as their leader. We have to find the Max Verstappen of cycling. That’s our goal.”
Denk lost Cian Uijtdebroeks after his veiled comments about lack of support at Bora-Hansgrohe in 2024 but he has no regrets about releasing the 21-year-old Belgian, believing the criticism is unfounded.
Denk was told recently by Lennard Kämna’s agent that the talented German rider will not renew his contract, with Daniel Benson reporting he will join Lidl-Trek. Kämna was hit by a vehicle while training in Tenerife on April 4 and is still in rehabilitation.
“I don’t know that Lennard is going to Lidl-Tek but for sure he will not continue with us,” Denk confirmed to Cyclingnews.
“I’m a little sad about the way his agent treated us but we just wish Lennard all the best for the future and we hope he can recover and race in the new Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe colours before the end of his contract.”
Denk reportedly earned a significant amount for selling a 51% share of the team’s management company to Red Bull but will play a crucial role in the development of the team in the years to come.
Red Bull have given Denk a simple goal.
“We want to be the best,” he said.
“We want to be the best in every way. We want to have sporting success, that’s the biggest thing, but we also want to help more people get into cycling at every level. We want to make the sport better too and also have some fun. We’ll think out of the box and so perhaps work across different kinds of cycling. Red Bull is in mountain biking and gravel too.
“For sure Red Bull won’t just do the same thing as everyone else. Red Bull won’t just buy VIP places at the Tour de France for their guests, they’ll do it differently and so will we as a team.”
Denk believes in the One Cycling project and firmly believes the sport has to modernise and evolve, so it can grow globally. Red Bull will surely help that process via its team ownership and influence in the world of sport and marketing.
“Cycling is cool now and some of the biggest global brands are coming into the sport. We hope it can get bigger and bigger,” Denk said.
“It’s great to have Red Bull in pro cycling now, to have Lidl, Decathlon and others in the sport too. Hopefully everyone in the sport can help make the cake bigger. I think some of the teams have done that, we’ve done our homework. Now it’s up to the UCI, other teams and the big race organisers.
Apart from the Red Bull logo on the jersey and team bus, the impact of the Red Bull sponsorship and ownership is still hard to see. That will change in the months and years ahead.
“Big changes are coming,” Denk repeated.
“This is just the start. The deal was only signed in May. It’s a step-by-step process, as always with my teams. I’ve been doing this for 24 years and have always improved year after year, while other teams perhaps made a big splash but then quickly disappeared.
“Red Bull bought control of the team with a long-term plan. Their intentions are very serious and so are those of the team.”
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Stephen is one of the most experienced members of the Cyclingnews team, having reported on professional cycling since 1994. Before becoming Editor-at-large, he was Head of News at Cyclingnews. He has previously worked for Shift Active Media, Reuters and Cycling Weekly. He is a member of the Board of the Association Internationale des Journalistes du Cyclisme (AIJC).
